Health drive cuts out cars to school in Sheffield

Cllr Leigh Bramall with children at Greenhill Primary School with their new bike and scooter storage facility

HEALTHY hearts make for healthy minds at Sheffield’s most active school.

Youngsters at Greenhill Primary School proved the Olympic legacy is alive and kicking by ditching cars and buses for two feet and two wheels for a competition.

The pupils adopted healthier methods for their daily commute as part of Sheffield Council’s 10-Day Active Challenge.

More than 3,600 children at 20 different schools took part in the scheme, designed to encourage staff, parents and pupils to make travel good for children’s health and the environment.

But it was Greenhill’s green army who came out on top with an impressive 95 per cent of children taking part.

Their commitment to the cause, – which saw a walk zone set up around the school – earned them top prize of a new £5,000 cycle and scooter storage facility.

Headteacher Julia Brown said: “We were really delighted to come out as top school in this challenge. The pupils – and staff – took to the challenge with great heart and really enjoyed it.

“We devised a five minute walk-zone around the school, a map of which was sent home to all parents to encourage them to park outside of it.

“Since the end of the challenge, parents have been encouraged to continue using the five minute walk-zone and children are still able to bring and store bikes and scooters at the school. Winning the prize is great because we can now have the facility there for when youngsters get to school.

“At the completion of the challenge we had a special whole school assembly celebrating the challenge and awarded the two classes with 100 per cent participation with a small trophy, on behalf of the School Council.”

The Active Travel Challenge was run by Sheffield Council’s school travel team and was open to infant, primary and junior schools.

Pupils who travelled to school in an active way for 10 days won a host of prizes, ranging from badges and vouchers, to a visit from a theatre company.

Each classroom involved had a wall chart with pupils’ names and the 10 days written on. Every day pupils used an active form of travel to get to school and placed a sticker next to their name.

Coun Leigh Bramall, cabinet member for business, skills and development at Sheffield Council, said: “We are delighted that so many schools got on board and tackled this challenge.

“The idea was to promote healthier ways to get to school. We know that if children are healthy and active then this will reflect positively on their studies.

“Walking, cycling and scootering to school also eases pressure on streets around schools where people otherwise park to drop kids off.

“We hope the challenge will create a legacy and youngsters will continue to find new and active ways to get to school. Well done to all.”